Gemini - woohoo!

My sister-in-law Denise turned me onto Gemini a few Christmases ago when she gave the lullabies CD to P as a gift. We loved their voices and their songs. Every night they were included in our repertoire of nigh-nigh songs, and then we recieved "The Best of Gemini" and they quickly became one of our favorite groups to listen to in the car and at home.

Denise called me and said they were playing a park near her and that we should come up to see them. Immediately I wanted to go. P loves their music, I love their music and I know that E will love their music. The music is so fun and full of "real" instruments, and I love that the artists create their own lyrics and melodies for kids (compared to artists that sing the same songs over and over like Twinkle Twinkle Little Star). We drove up to MI with my mom and picked up my niece and nephew so they could go too, and saving their Grandma Becky the trip up. The trip up was fine except for baby E being on the verge of a breakdown the whole ride. ugh.

It was great to go up, too, because I hadn't seen all the work they had done to their house. The house was built in the 1800s and in severe disrepair when Paxton bought it. My brother and the family worked so hard to get the house in the condition it is today, and now they are adding an addition on that will allow the boys to have a bigger room to share, a bigger master bedroom and bedrooms for each of the girls.

Paxton added the whole front to the house.

They have diligently been working to expand the home so there's plently of room for the brood of 6. My brother has been working hard as an engineer for Toyota to earn the funds to take care of the family and then mastering his skills as carpenter, electrician and designer to expand the home for his lot. I am so proud of him and envious of his energy.

My bro.

And, my sis-in-law has the same engery. Taking care of 4 kids, all that goes with that and working on their home is certainly no small task. I would have to compare it to probably five different jobs: police officer, chef, house-keeper, event planner, and handy-wo-man. I am probably missing a few....and I thought I was busy!

Our blanket at the park.

Well, we had such a ball up there. The concert was really great. It was so amazing to see P react to the fact that she was looking at the *real* musical artists of the songs she loves. She just kind of stared at them when they began singing. Almost as if she was wondering how they knew "that" song. Then she realized they sounded exactly like the music mama plays in the car. It was adorable! Mom and I just laughed at her and kept trying to get her to dance. Once she warmed up and saw other kids dancing she was jumping, twirling and wiggling about. E was jumping on Grammies' lap making us all chuckle at his cute little pudgy legs going a mile a minute. I have a few videos from the day but for some reason I cannot get them uploaded. I'll keep trying.

P is in the green shirt on the far right and cousie Annabelle is to her left in pink. The band is playing on the far left.

D and P brought KFC for dinner. (Just for all of you with allergies, KFC has NOTHING for a person allergic to dairy to eat - they put butter or milk into everything.) We had a blast at the park. I was really impressed that the band promoted going green. They asked at the beginning of the concert to leave any recyclable materials in the green bag by the exit; that they would take care of recycling anything people were planning to just throw away. I find that Ann Arbor always makes a huge effort to recycle and promote earth-friendly living - at least by what I see my family doing in their home when I visit.

We only stayed one night. I was a little apprehensive about sleeping with P on the air mattress. She had never slept outside of her bed or her port-a-crib, but she did great! E slept soundly in the pack-n-play . Now I know my kids are portable, as long as we skip the actual part of traveling to our destination.

Here is Grammies with all of her grandchildren. She looks great for her age!